A longitudinal study of the relationship between parents’ self-esteem and children’s digital media addiction: Testing the mediating roles of children’s self-esteem and aggression

Parents play a significant role in the development of children’s digital media addiction. Nevertheless, few longitudinal studies have investigated how mothers’ and fathers’ self-esteem affects children’s digital media addiction. We longitudinally examined the relationship between parents’ self-esteem and children’s digital media addiction, exploring the mediating roles of children’s self-esteem and aggression using three-wave panel data from the Panel Study on Korean Children from 2016 to 2018. The data of 1,164 children and their parents were analyzed using hierarchical regression and the Hayes PROCESS macro (Model 4). Mothers’ and fathers’ self-esteem at T1 was negatively linked to children’s digital media addiction at T3, and this relationship was mediated by children’s self-esteem and aggression at T2. This study is meaningful in that it assesses mothers’ and fathers’ self-esteem separately, identifying the longitudinal outcomes of their self-esteem regarding the development of children’s digital media addiction and the mechanism underlying this relationship.